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'''''Taken''''' is a 2008 French/American [[action film|action]] [[Thriller (genre)|thriller film]] starring [[Liam Neeson]], [[Famke Janssen]], and [[Maggie Grace]]. It is based on a script by [[Luc Besson]] and [[Robert Mark Kamen]] and was directed by [[Pierre Morel]]. Neeson plays a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] [[Special Activities Division|paramilitary]] operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by [[ |
'''''Taken''''' is a 2008 French/American [[action film|action]] [[Thriller (genre)|thriller film]] starring [[Liam Neeson]], [[Famke Janssen]], and [[Maggie Grace]]. It is based on a script by [[Luc Besson]] and [[Robert Mark Kamen]] and was directed by [[Pierre Morel]]. Neeson plays a former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] [[Special Activities Division|paramilitary]] operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by [[white slavers]] while traveling in [[France]]. |
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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Revision as of 02:57, 1 July 2010
| Taken | |
|---|---|
| File:Taken-poster-0.jpg French theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Pierre Morel |
| Written by | Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen |
| Produced by | Luc Besson |
| Starring | Liam Neeson Famke Janssen Maggie Grace Xander Berkeley Holly Valance Katie Cassidy |
| Cinematography | Michel Abramowicz |
| Edited by | Frédéric Thoraval |
| Music by | Nathaniel Mechaly |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date | 27 February 2008 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Languages | French English Albanian Arabic |
| Budget | €19,000,000 (US$25,000,000) |
| Box office | $226,830,568[1] |
Taken is a 2008 French/American action thriller film starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by white slavers while traveling in France.
Plot
Decorated and highly-skilled CIA Special Activities Division officer Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has recently retired. Although his frequent absences led to his divorce, he remained a loving, albeit distant father to his teen-aged daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Hoping to bond with Kim, an aspiring singer, Bryan buys an expensive karaoke machine for her 17th birthday. But his gift is upstaged by Kim's wealthy stepfather, Stuart (Xander Berkeley), who gives her a horse at her party.
Later, Bryan's former CIA colleague, Sam (Leland Orser), hires Bryan for a one-night job with him: bodyguards for a famous singer, Sheerah (Holly Valance). After fending off an armed attacker, Bryan earns Sheerah's gratitude and a promise to help with Kim's musical aspirations. Kim invites Bryan to lunch the next day, but before he can share his good news, he discovers his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), is also there; the lunch is actually a set-up to persuade Bryan to sign a parental consent form allowing Kim to travel to Paris with her 19-year-old friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy), who is visiting relatives there. Lenore is irritated when Bryan refuses to sign, and Kim, upset, tearfully rushes out. Wanting to win back his daughter's favor, Bryan reluctantly agrees to give his consent, but he is angered when he discovers later the girls are actually following a U2 concert tour throughout Europe. Affronted by Lenore's denial of the dangers, he is pressured by Lenore into letting Kim go.
In Paris, Kim and Amanda meet an attractive stranger named Peter (Nicolas Giraud), who suggests sharing a taxi, and also invites them to a party. But events soon turn sinister when, after Kim and Amanda are dropped off, Peter calls someone on his cell phone, giving them the apartment's address and information about the girls. Kim, meanwhile, learns that Amanda lied—they are actually staying at the apartment alone—a fact that Amanda revealed to Peter.
While talking to Bryan on her cell phone, Kim witnesses Amanda being abducted in another room. Bryan warns that she will be taken as well, and instructs her to shout out information about the kidnappers as he tapes the call. Sam analyzes the recording and determines the kidnappers are the Albanian Mafia operating in Paris, who largely deal in sex slaves (Human trafficking). On average, these kidnapped girls have 96 hours (four days) before never being found.
At the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Bryan locates Peter as he lures another victim into a taxi. Attempting to escape, Peter is hit and killed by a truck. Bryan contacts an old friend, Jean-Claude (Olivier Rabourdin), who works for French Intelligence. Though doubtful that Kim can be found, he provides information on where Albanian pimps and their prostitutes operate. Navigating his way through Paris seedy underbelly, Bryan eventually locates a house where Kim might be. He bluffs his way in, and, identifying a gang member's voice from the phone recording, kills nearly everyone there. Amanda is found dead from an apparent overdose, but Kim is already gone.
Mindful of the 96-hour deadline, Bryan tortures the surviving gang member, Marko, by hooking him up to wires and electrocuting him into revealing that Kim was sold to Patrice Saint-Clair (Gérard Watkins). Bryan then leaves Marko to die. Bryan returns to Jean-Claude's apartment and, deducing his connection with the human traffickers, confronts him about his illegal Albanian dealings, threatens to kill Jean Claude and shoots his wife in the arm to obtain Saint-Clair's address.
At Saint-Clair's, Kim is being auctioned in a darkened room. Before Bryan can rescue her, he is overpowered and Saint-Clair orders him killed. Bryan escapes, killing Saint-Clair's henchmen, then forces Saint-Clair to reveal Kim's whereabouts before dispatching him. Bryan boards the yacht belonging to the Arab sheikh who bought Kim, killing his guards. The sheikh holds a knife to Kim's neck and tries negotiating with Bryan, but Bryan shoots him dead. Bryan and Kim return to the United States, and, shortly thereafter, Bryan surprises Kim with a visit to Sheerah's house to help Kim launch a singing career.
Cast
- Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills
- Maggie Grace as Kim Mills
- Famke Janssen as Lenore
- Xander Berkeley as Stuart
- Katie Cassidy as Amanda
- Leland Orser as Sam
- Olivier Rabourdin as Jean-Claude
- Holly Valance as Sheerah
- Jon Gries as Casey
- David Warshofsky as Bernie
- Nathan Rippy as Victor
- Camille Japy as Isabelle
- Nicolas Giraud as Peter
- Arben Bajraktaraj as Marko Hoxha
- Gérard Watkins as Patrice Saint Clair
- Ethan Millican as an unidentified assassin
- Sigmuound Froyd as bartender
Production
The film was produced by Luc Besson's Europacorp.[2] It was filmed mostly in Paris with about the first 30 minutes taking place in Los Angeles. Recognizable points in the movie are Staples Center, and Los Angeles International Airport in L.A and the Eiffel Tower and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
Distribution
Taken premiered in France on February 27, 2008, with releases in the United Kingdom and United States following on September 26, 2008 and January 30, 2009, respectively.
Versions
Pierre Morel stated that the film's United States distributor, 20th Century Fox, forced him to re-edit this film for its US theatrical release so it could receive a PG-13 rating.[3] Later, 20th Century Fox released the original version as an 'Extended Cut' on DVD and Blu-ray. The 'Extended Cut' has more violence which was cut from the US theatrical release.[4]
Reception
On its opening day in the United States, the film grossed $9.4 million, scoring the best opening day ever for Super Bowl weekend.[5] The film has grossed $145,000,989 in the United States and Canada, and $81,829,579 overseas, for a worldwide total of $220,429,550.[1]
Although extremely profitable, the movie received mixed reviews from professional critics. Dan Kois of the Washington Post described the film as "a satisfying thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likens the action to the Bourne series. Derek Elley of Variety described the film as a "kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner." He added, "Besson alum Pierre Morel ... wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences in the script by Besson and regular scribe Robert Mark Kamen. From the actual kidnapping — breathlessly staged with Kim actually on the phone with dad — to Bryan arriving in Paris and immediately causing a pileup outside the airport, the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond movie on steroids." He went on to say, the "widescreen package is technically slick at all levels, and ditto the action choreography, in a cartoonish way."[6] Kenneth Turan, of the The Los Angeles Times, described the premise of Taken as "a brisk and violent action programmer that can't help being unintentionally silly at times... Obviously, Taken is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." He characterized Bryan Mills as "a relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO."[7]
The film has a 57% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[8]
The film has been compared to the television series 24: with Neeson's character compared to Jack Bauer and Grace's role of Kim Mills to Kim Bauer. Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason on 24, also has a small role in the film.[9][10]
Sequel
On June 10, 2010 Liam Neeson said that he would be interested in making a sequel and that he would be talking to Luc Besson shortly about the possibility of making a second one. [11]
DVD sales
Taken was released on May 12, 2009, on DVD. As of November 1, 2009, the DVD had sold 3,926,197 copies generating US$62,769,163 in sales. As of November 1, 2009, the film had received a total of US$288,230,490 in Box office and DVD sales.[12]
References
- ^ a b "Taken (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ Jaafar, Ali; Keslassy, Elsa (21 November 2008). "New French wave prefers genre films - Morel, Leterrier, Aja lead new crop of directors". Variety. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
- ^ Exclusive: Pierre Morel Talks Taken from ComingSoon.net
- ^ Taken (2009) (2-Disc Extended Cut) Review from IGN
- ^ McClintock, Pamela (2009-01-31). "Box office crown 'Taken' by Fox". Variety. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
- ^ Elley, Derek (2009-03-13). "Taken". Variety. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Turan, Kenneth (2009-01-30). "Review: Taken". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ "Taken Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- ^ Lin, Bryan. "Action flick Taken leaves moviegoers behind".
- ^ "0226 Movies Now Playing".
- ^ "Are We Going To Be Taken Again?". The Film Stage. June 10, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
{{cite web}}: External link in|work= - ^ Retrieved on 2009-11-01 from http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/TAKEN.php.
External links
- Taken at AllMovie
- Taken at IMDb
- Taken at Metacritic
- Taken at Box Office Mojo
- Taken at Rotten Tomatoes